Currently, on the market there are many different types of measuring devices. The available measuring devices provide a number of different constructions and accessories that may be desirable to various customer bases. The present invention concerns itself with a subset of measuring devices, those utilizing lasers as a measurement tool. However, currently available laser measuring devices are limited to measuring distance from the laser source to a point; as a result, said laser points are no better equipped to remotely measure the dimensions of objects than traditional devices such as tape measures. Though traditional measuring devices are capable of measuring dimensions of an object, doing so requires a person using the measuring device to be proximal to the object being measured. Furthermore, to obtain the most accurate measurements the user must place part of the measuring device against the object; while direct contact is fine in many situations, there are other situations in which it is undesirable to directly contact the object being measured. Potentially, there may be situations where direct contact is impossible or greatly hampered due to physical or other obstructions. In such situations traditional measuring devices would be of little use.
The shortcomings of current measuring devices results in a need on the market for the unique functionality of the present invention. It is therefore an object of the present invention to introduce a new method and apparatus that allows for an easy and quick measurement to be taken without contacting the object or surface intended to be measured and removes the risk of thereby physically contacting and disturbing the object or surface.